Looking forward to lacrosse

Friday

I’m looking forward to the National Lacrosse League All-Star Game Sunday at Turning Stone.

Casey Powell, Brett Bucktooth, Sid Smith, lots of others.

I’m looking forward to the National Lacrosse League All-Star Game Sunday at Turning Stone.

Casey Powell, Brett Bucktooth, Sid Smith, lots of others.

I’ve seen many of these guys play on the field, never in the box. It should be interesting.

The player I remember the best is Smith, the former Syracuse University defenseman from Six Nations in Ontario. That’s because Smith made one of the greatest plays I’ve ever seen on a lacrosse field. It came in the SU-Colgate game in 2008 at Andy Kerr Stadium. The Raiders were leading the Orange 2-0 as the clock wound down in the first quarter. Colgate's Chris Mulholland grabbed the ball after an SU turnover with just seconds left, and attempted a long clear. That appeared to end the quarter, but Smith snagged the ball out of the air deep in his own zone, turned, and rocketed a 50-yard pass to attackman Kenny Nims, who fired home with just .1 second remaining to make it 2-1.

That play was breathtaking. I’ve seen all kinds of miraculous shots, but I’d never seen a play like that.

Be that as it may, it almost was topped by the work of Raider goalie Tim Harrington at the end of the game. Colgate was leading 12-11 – Matt Lalli had three goals and four assists to help put the Raiders ahead, and the Orange had a hard time without injured faceoff specialist Dan Brennan – when Harrington saved a drive by SU’s Matt Abbott with eight seconds to go. The ball, he said, ricocheted off his helmet. Harrington then got a piece of the ball when Nims tried to stuff it into the upper left corner as time expired.

Colgate won in just a sensational game. The Raiders went on to win the Patriot League title, then were edged by No. 6 Notre Dame 8-7 in the first round of the NCAA tourney, finishing 11-6. The loss was one of only two for SU, which went 16-2 and, of course, won the ninth of its 10 national championships.

Great stuff.

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